Airheads
Airheads is a 1994 American comedy film written by Rich Wilkes and directed by Michael Lehmann. It stars Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler as a band of loser musicians who stage a hijacking of a radio station in order to get airplay for their emo recording. Joe Mantegna, Michael McKean, Ernie Hudson and Michael Richards play supporting roles. This was Sandler's first role in a 20th Century Fox film. The film was written by Rich Wilkes who later wrote the 2002 DHS film xXx. Plot Chazz, Rex and Pip are in a Los Angeles rock band called The Lone Rangers who are continuously turned down as they try to get their demo tape heard by producers. Chazz unsuccessfully tries to get Jimmie Wing, a record executive, to listen to the tape; to make matters worse, his hard working girlfriend, Kayla, demands that he leave and find a real job after so many failed attempts. Chazz, Rex, and Pip finally decide to try to get the local rock station, KPPX 103.6 ("Rebel Radio"), to play it on the air, after they saw how Rebel Radio helped another band The Sons of Thunder get a record deal. They attempt to break-in by using Pip's ATM card and its PIN. The card, however, gets confiscated. Then, Rex tries to short circuit the electronic lock with Pip's Big Gulp, but with no luck. They finally get in when a station employee Suzzi, who later falls for Pip, comes out to smoke and they keep the door from shutting behind her. Once inside, DJ Ian "The Shark" puts them on the air without them knowing. Station Manager Milo overhears them and intervenes. After Milo calls Rex "Hollywood Boulevard trash", Chazz and Rex shove water pistols that look like Uzi's loaded with hot pepper sauce in Milo's face and demand airplay. After setting up a reel-to-reel for the demo, the tape starts and is destroyed when the reel runs out and catches fire in an ashtray. The guys try to run, but Doug Beech, the station's accountant, had already called the police and eventually the building is surrounded. They soon realize that they are armed hostage takers and begin negotiations with the police, with Sergeant O'Malley in charge. News of the hostage goes all over the city as numerous hard rock/metal fans begin showing up outside the radio station; to complicate matters for O'Malley, the local SWAT team shows up while in the midst of the negotiations. During the crisis, it is learned that Milo had signed a deal to flip KPPX's format to Soft Adult Contemporary (soft rock), which includes having to fire Ian and most of the other employees. Ian and the rest of the employees side with the band and turn against Milo, with Ian attacking him. But after a while, the employees find out about the fake guns and the police try to barge in upon learning this. But Doug, who was hiding from them in the air ducts, is given a real gun by a SWAT member; Ian knocks the gun from him, causing it to shoot wildly and make the police think the Lone Rangers are carrying real weapons. After the gun stops firing, the police move back while Ian grabs the gun and gives it to Chazz. During the ordeal, Chazz tries to play the song via a cassette spare, which Kayla (still upset at Chazz) has thrown away. It isn't until O'Malley's assistant, Officer Wilson, tells her at the Whisky about the situation that she goes and retrieves it, although it has been damaged significantly. Upon arriving at KPPX, Chazz reveals his true self that he was a geek in high school and that his real name is Chester. Despite this, some of the crowd come out and side with Chazz by revealing some embarrassing moments in their lives. Chazz and Kayla make up, but only momentarily when they discover the tape is ruined. After pinning the blame on one another (which included Kayla throwing a chair and damaging the console, thus preventing the song from ever playing), both she and Chazz make up for good. Eventually, Wing comes to the radio station. The band signs a record contract (with Milo acting as their manager) and goes out on stage to play, only to realize that they are supposed to lip sync the song for a music video. They refuse to lip sync while the music is playing and get a round of applause from the audience, who rush toward the stage. The band destroys their instruments in protest to the pleasure of the audience; they then stage dive into the audience, who proceed to surf them. Afterwards, Ian becomes The Lone Rangers' manager and the band is sent to prison, but serve only a 3-6 month sentence. They record an album while in prison called "Live in Prison", which goes triple platinum. The film ends with the band playing amongst the inmates, who enjoy the music. Cast * Brendan Fraser as Chazz Darby/Chester Ogilvie * Steve Buscemi as Rex * Adam Sandler as Pip * Joe Mantegna as Ian "The Shark" * Michael McKean as Milo Jackson * Chris Farley as Officer Wilson * Ernie Hudson as Sgt. O'Malley * Judd Nelson as Jimmie Wing * Amy Locane as Kayla * Nina Siemaszko as Suzzi * Marshall Bell as Carl Mace * Reg E. Cathey as Marcus * David Arquette as Carter * Michael Richards as Doug Beech * Michelle Hurst as Yvonne * Harold Ramis as Chris Moore * Allen Covert as Officer Samuels * Rob Zombie as Himself * Kurt Loder as Himself * Lemmy Kilmister as School Magazine Editor Rocker * Rich Wilkes as Corduroy Pants Rocker * John Melendez as Constant Masturbating Rocker * Vinnie DeRamus as Dungeons & Dragons Rocker * Alan Cumming as Mr. Alan * James Coburn as Dr. James Cameos * The band Galactic Cowboys perform in the film under the name "The Sons of Thunder". Their sole musical contribution to the film, "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful", was omitted from the soundtrack and is not available anywhere. Even the band does not have a copy. * Mike Judge plays the voices of Beavis and Butt-head, who call in to the radio station. * White Zombie appear in the bar scene with Chris Farley searching for Amy Locane, playing the track they recorded for the film "Feed the Gods". *Lemmy Kilmister makes a brief appearance in the crowd outside the radio station as the editor of his school newspaper. Category:Films Category:Comedies Category:20th Century Fox movies Category:Die Hard in a Building scenario movies Category:PG-13 rated films Category:Ernie Hudson action films